Nickolay Mladenov: NATO must send a clear message to the people of the Middle East countries
28 May 2011 News
“The revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa are a rebellion against corruption, a cry for democracy. Therefore, we should send a clear message to the people of these countries that they have our support” said the Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov during the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Varna. He delivered a speech on ‘NATO’s new Strategic Concept, new partnerships, new challenges: a view from Bulgaria’. “Preserving the military character of the Alliance, focus on shared military capacities, the Missile Defense Shield, energy security and NATO’s ‘open door’-these are the key messages of the New Strategic Concept” stated Mladenov.
In his view, if the countries of NATO and the EU do not support the changes in the Middle East they will witness the realization of all gloomy forecasts as islamization and clash of civilizations. Therefore, the Alliance holds historical responsibility, said Mladenov.
NATO has accumulated considerable experience and capacity regarding reforms and transparency in the security sector, and transformation of security services, thus it could provide significant help to these countries, explained he Bulgarian Foreign Minsiter. We do not have the intention to run their armies, but to provide assistance in transforming them, Mladenov said.
He also discussed the situation in Libya. In his opinion, there has to be made a political decision regarding the country. Though whatever the decision, it should not allow Colonel Gaddafi to stay in power, stated Mladenov.
NATO countries and Russia are facing new and common challenges to security: proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and others. The creation of a missile defense system in cooperation with Russia is the best guarantee that we can work together in a common interest. This is the response Nickolay Mladenov gave to a question on NATO-Russia cooperation and the antimissile defense.